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Bloomberg Federal Reserve Governor Randal Quarles expressed optimism about the state of the US economy, calling strong hiring and low inflation a “good environment” even as investors focus on mounting threats to growth. “Clearly markets are more attuned currently to the downside risks, but the core base case remains very strong,” Quarles, the central bank’s vice chairman for supervision, said ...

Bloomberg Mario Draghi is running out of time to say whether he’ll shake up the responsibilities of his top officials to ensure smooth leadership in the supervision of the region’s banks. The European Central Bank president faces a deadline of February 11, when Executive Board member Sabine Laut- enschlaeger’s non-renewable five-year term as vice chair of bank supervision expires. He ...

Bloomberg Morgan Stanley, the world’s second-largest wealth manager, is beefing up its services for rich clients in Singapore with a focus on Chinese entrepreneurs looking to set up family offices in the city state. “The city is a key business hub for China entrepreneurs, as well as a family office nexus,” Vincent Chui, who heads the bank’s Asia wealth operations, ...

Bloomberg The Bank of Italy cut its growth forecast for this year and next while signalling that the euro region’s third-biggest economy might have slipped into a new recession at the end of 2018. The economy is seen expanding 0.6 percent this year and 0.9 percent next, down from prior projections of 1 percent and 1.1 percent respectively, the central ...

Bloomberg Avianca Brasil is in talks with Elliott Management Corp for a possible cash injection, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The airline, also known as Oceanair, is in early talks with the New York hedge fund led by billionaire Paul Singer to get fresh cash as it struggles to keep operations going after filing for bankruptcy protection ...

Bloomberg Reliance Industries Ltd will roll out its online shopping platform to 1.2 million retailers and store-owners in western India, starting on an ambitious plan to take on Amazon.com Inc and Walmart Inc.’s Flipkart on its home turf. Mukesh Ambani, Asia’s richest man, intends to take on the world’s largest retailers by combining his Jio telecom service, mobile devices and ...

Bloomberg Singapore has identified Lockheed Martin Corp’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter as the most suitable replacement for its fleet of F-16 fighter jets and plans to buy a small number for evaluation, the Ministry of Defense said in a statement. The Air Force’s F-16s that were in service since 1998 will retire soon after 2030, Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen ...

Bloomberg Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA agreed to sell six loss-making Géant hypermarkets across France to current grocery-market leader Groupement E. Leclerc for 100.5 million euros ($114 million.) The stores, located outside Paris, are “the least performing” in its network and accounted for a total trading loss of about 8 million euros in 2018, Casino said in a statement on Saturday. The ...

Bloomberg VF Corp’s quarterly beat, aided by a sales increase in China, is fuelling a rally in branded apparel peers that include Canada Goose Holdings In., where concerns of a slowdown in the region has weighed on the stock. China sales increased 23 percent year-over-year on a constant currency basis at VF Corp. During the conference call, executives said China ...

Bloomberg Bangkok Airways Pcl Chief Executive Officer Prasert Prasarttong-Osoth has been banned from holding director and executive positions in listed companies in Thailand for manipulating the share price of the airline. Civil sanctions have been imposed on Prasert and his daughter, Poramaporn Prasarttong-Osoth, the chief operating officer at Bangkok Dusit Medical Services Pcl, as well as Narumon Chainaknan, the executive ...